


Polyglotism

by Fleur_de_Violette



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bilingual Problems, Enochian, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Lucifer (mentioned) - Freeform, Mary Winchester (Mentioned) - Freeform, Polyglot Sam, Sam and Cas as friends, Sam and Dean as brothers - Freeform, Trial!Sam, bilingual cas, mensions of the cage, you can see it as Sastiel if you want to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 10:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13611312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleur_de_Violette/pseuds/Fleur_de_Violette
Summary: Sam always liked languages, and it never really occurred to Dean that the reason he didn’t want to learn Enochian was specifically because he knew Enochian.





	Polyglotism

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda funny to write a fic about languages on my second language. But I just wanted to and writing it in English felt right so… 
> 
> Hope you’ll enjoy it

From the day Mary showed him a screaming eight-and-a-half-pound pink thing he called his little brother to probably the end of the universe, Sam would never cease to amaze Dean.

And along with his courage, his kind heart and his smartness, one of the thing the oldest Winchester always found impressive about his younger brother was his ability to learn new languages. 

Sam had mastered English relatively quickly, and had always impressed his English teachers with beautifully written poems and stories. At eight, when a friend of him offered him to teach him a few words in Spanish, he took the opportunity, was an attentive student, and was already able to keep a small conversation when they had to leave town a week later. He was ordered to learn Latin for exorcisms and chants (they both were) but also took classes in German, French and of course Spanish whenever the school they were in had them. Languages were always easy on him. He took sign language courses online before and during his time at Stanford. Dean also learned while on a case that his brother knew how to read Arabic and Chinese, and of course he knew because when confronted to a new alphabet, Sam’s reaction was “Meh, no big deal, let’s just learn that”. And if that wasn’t awesome, Dean didn’t know what was. 

Knowing that, Dean was kind of surprised when Sam didn’t ask to learn Enochian the first time he was able to talk on equal footing with Cas. 

Surprised, but not alarmed. Sam had other things to worry about than learning a new language. Like the incoming apocalypse for instance. And then a wall in his head to protect him from his memory. And while it never occurred to Dean that Lucifer and Michael had spoken Enochian to him for 200 years, apparently, Sam knew it was a bad idea for his mental safety to ear Enochian. Dean hoped he had figured it out from deduction, but feared it was just from experience. Whichever it was, Sam never tried to learn Enochian before the fall of his mind-wall.

And then the wall crumbled. 

And Dean understood. 

He understood that his brother was now speaking Enochian even better than English, that his brother was now dreaming in Enochian, and sometimes spoke Enochian to some people that weren’t there. 

And even after the hallucinations were taken away from him, he kept crying and moaning in Enochian in his sleep. And wasn’t that dramatic that he wasn’t dreaming about their dad, about Jess, or even about that Amelia girl and their dog, but about the cage, about hell, and that the only English words Dean could ear from his brother when the youngest was forced to sleep fourteen hours a day by gods stupid trials were his name and endless half English half Enochian apologies. 

Sam never talked about hell with Dean. The oldest couldn’t blame him, he didn’t want to talk about hell either. But Dean couldn’t help but think talking about hell was something Sam needed to do, but just couldn’t. The oldest Winchester knew his brother was suffering about this situation, but there was basically nothing he could do beside being there and giving his brother all the time needed. 

Sam started talking between the second and the third trial. 

But not to Dean, never to Dean. 

Sam was talking with Cas. 

At the beginning, it was just a few Enochian words he said to his feet, and Dean was thought the fever was making him delirious and _please god, anything but that._

But the angel lifted his head from the book he was reading, pushed all the research from the table and gave the youngest Winchester a few words of encouragement in Enochian, moving closer. 

And as if a dam has been opened, Sam’s words started to flow out of his mouth. He kept talking during hours, stopping only to catch his breath. Castiel stayed silent and unmoving, except for an eventual nod of encouragement from time to time. Dean felt… useless to say the least. He brough several glasses of water his brother drained and watched helplessly as Sam slipped on the table, exhaustion taking him over, but kept talking until he finally fell asleep (or passed out, Dean through darkly, it was hard to know lately). Only then he put a blanket on his most important person, instinctively rubbing his back and removing rogue tears. 

Castiel stayed unmoving for what seem like an eternity. Then he stood up, and after asking the oldest brother permission with a look, he gently hosted Sam in his arms and carried him toward his room, Dean on his toes.

None of them said a word.

Dean checked one last time on his brother fever and breathing, and put a bottle of water and a tab of painkiller close to the bed, in case Sam needed it during the night, because he probably would. After that man and angel just stayed standing up in the room, knowing they would have to let the younger rest, and yet unwilling to leave. 

And then Castiel talked. His voice was low, steady, seemingly emotionless but Dean knew better. 

“Don’t you want to know?”

And Dean wanted. He wanted to know what Sam told Cas. He wanted to know what made his brother suffer. He wanted to know what happened in hell. If only to just share the burden with Sam, to take a little of it off his shoulders. Dean couldn’t erase hell, and he couldn’t erase the trials. But maybe if he just knew, he would be able to help a little, or at least avoid unintentionally hurting his brother. He wanted to know. Just not like this. 

“He’ll tell me.”

But would he? Dean hadn’t been the perfect confident lately. If he was honest with himself, he never really was, but Sam abandoning him in purgatory, abandoning Kevin, and then taking his anger on Benny had just been too much. He knew his brother had his reasons; now he could understand it, but forgiveness wasn’t something that came easily. At some point he had thought that with little steps from both party and time, they could go back to what they were. But time was something they didn’t have anymore. Was Dean frustrated, angry and somehow jealous that his brother came to Cas before him for talking about hell? Yes. Would he ever blame his brother for this? No. No matter how angry he was, he knew he hadn’t deserved his brother trust. He lied about Benny, and even before that he lied about Amy when Sam was at his weakest. He hadn’t deserved Sam talking to him about the worst and probably the most shameful thinks that happened to him.

“He can’t,” suddenly started Castiel, still calm, as if reading his thought. “If he could, he would had told you.” 

The angel’s face turned toward the human and if his voice had sounded emotionless, in his eyes laid empathy, despair and distress.

“Dean… there is no words…” 

And the hunter understood. 

He understood why his brother couldn’t talk. 

And he understood why languages were important. All of sudden he understood why Sam, smart, kind hearted, empathetic Sam, felt that annoying need to learn more and more languages. 

There were some things that could never be felt, there were some things that could never be explained in English. 

 

And a few years later, when in the middle of research session Sam would ask him “You speak Enochian?” his only answer would be “Cas taught me”. 

Sam wouldn’t tell anything. He wouldn’t want to know how hard it was everything happening in their life, to follow lessons on a dead language. He wouldn’t want to know Dean’s motives. He wouldn’t say a word in Enochian either. 

He would just make a smirk, easily translatable from Winchester to English. 

_Message understood. Thank you._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I appreciate any feedback, both negative (so I could understand what was wrong) and positive (who doesn’t?)
> 
> Have a nice day! 
> 
> Violette

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Nerdy Little Brothers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14137995) by [NobleHouseOfBlack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NobleHouseOfBlack/pseuds/NobleHouseOfBlack)




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